PREVIEW: The Duelsman (Prologue)

• September 2, 2026
• Book Previews

Prologue: The Crash

The sense of freedom was elating as I drifted upon the winds of the hyperplane, my armor of soul lifting me to ever increasing heights of understanding. 

In the Realm, the plane of existence between Reality and Eternity, everything that ever was and everything that ever will be, converge into a sublime nothingness where everything is possible. 

The knowledge of ages spilt into various bodies of water and flowed, lit with colorful, radiant light. These waters were all represented by different pigments, emitting particles which formed into objects representing creations from their respective orders. 

One could see the first great civilizations of the mother continent spring out of a lightly hued burst of green water. The great discoveries of humanity came forth from a bright yellow wave of energy. Within a light mist, magenta-infused mathematical equations constantly transformed themselves. And every manner of art exploded from vibrant blue lakes. 

All these spectacles were indeed wondrous. However, dominating all of them from above was a great, spiraling, unbroken circle of energy emanating with a white glow. The suspended sea of ideas.

Flying through the stream I could only think of how glorious it was, as though one could experience an unadulterated connection with the creator of all things. 

Grasping hold to a couple small concepts to create for the day brought a smile to my face. “Wait until the world sees what can be built with these ideas. Surely they’ll breathe inspiration into the spirit of someone who needs them”, I self-assuredly thought, twirling in the air as azurean blue streaks of light formed a helix-like pattern that trailed behind me.

A feeling of contentedness was upon me. Yet, something was wrong, a feeling in my psyche. 

The green gem secured within a bezel setting in my breastplate cracked, spilling light and wretched voices. 

“I’m sorry.”, rose a solemn, afraid, and familiar voice from among them. 

I came crashing to the ground and was outside myself. 

Gazing upon the wreckage, the vision terrified me. My body was grotesquely tangled up with Drybone; my sword which transcends the planes of existence and takes the form of a large, crowed hoopoe bird while in the Realm. 

A cold sense of fear engulfed my entire being as the light from Drybone’s eyes faded.

I snapped back into the Plane of Reality, crumpled up in the back seat of my truck. The air was so hot and humid it made breathing barely possible. One of the numerous mosquito bites on my body forced me to scratch it, as I rose like a zombie to sit up.

Sweat had congealed into some blinding spackle in my eyes which made it difficult to see anything at first. However, as my vision began to clear, a desolate strip mall came into focus.

I turned to survey my surroundings, but a terrible crick in my neck prohibited me. Holding myself as I powered through the pain imposed on me by the spasm, a dank and somewhat busted town with quaint buildings could be seen, seemingly from a distant era. I closed my eyes in disbelief and asked myself, “What the fuck is this?”.